‘Feelings Are Not Love’ – 2.18.2024

February 18, 2024
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FEELINGS ARE NOT LOVE.

 

7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 

1 John 4:7-10 NLT

 

  • The basis of true, real, and lasting love isn’t about feelings at all, it’s about choice.

 

“You can will to love people. Love is not a feeling. Love is a willing, and the Lord says to love people. He did not mean [to merely] feel love for them”. — A.W. Tozer

 

1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. 4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 

1 Corinthians 13:1-7 NLT

 

  • When you decide, no matter what, to love and make that choice consciously, constantly, and consistently it creates a firm foundation.
  • Because feelings change from moment to moment they can’t always be trusted.
  • Biblical love is not a feeling or an emotion; it’s a decision. It is an action, and it’s sacrificial. It’s not something you feel, it is something you practice.
  • “Love says, ‘I’ve seen the ugly parts of you and I’m staying.’”  Matt Chandler
  • That’s what Christ did when he demonstrated his love on the cross. He chose us despite our ugly.

 

JESUS LOVES US AND CHOSE US.

6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. –  Romans 5:6-8 NLT

 

  • Jesus modeled love for us.

 

37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” – Matthew 22:37-40 NLT

 

In Greek (the language of the New Testament) there are four words that commonly get translated into our English word “love”: 

  • “Storge” which means “Love for family.”
  • “Phileo” is the “love” of friendship where there is a common bond that is shared. 
  • “Eros” is the love of deep desire. This is the love of intimacy and romance. We get the word “erotic” from the root Greek “eros.” 
  • “Agape” is the love that refers to a commitment and implies action. This commitment recognizes the infinite worth of others and does so without partiality. This is the love of God.

 

My unwillingness to love indicates that I adopt the worldly view of love, which is based on feelings and merit. 

 

2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. – Romans 12:2 NLT

 

13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. – 1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT

 

We are not going to like everyone, nor are we called to; we are called to love everyone regardless of how we feel about them.

 

Next steps for me today…

  • To choose Jesus.
  • To choose to love as Jesus loves me.

 

Next Steps

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